Outside on the porch there were
Sinclair stared at the lawn. “I suppose. I knew him, I knew what he likes, and I knew how to be what he wanted. Problem with Cameron is he
Eli recalled what she’d said the first day about Cameron, how it had been physical, and there hadn’t been feelings involved. “I’m sorry about what happened.”
“Don’t apologise. It could have been anyone.” Sinclair shrugged, “I was going to break up with him anyway. Two weeks was more than long enough to know that we would never be able to get along.”
“I can see how you two might clash.” Eli admitted.
Sinclair smiled and let out a breath of amusement. “Okay.” She returned her gaze from the stars, “I’m going to go back in, you can stay here and chill out.”
“Text me if you need me.” Eli called after her.
He sat out in the cold air, watching his phone and counted the minutes until midnight. Eventually he got tired of that, and stared up at the sky instead. The stars were more visible here than they’d been in the city with his mom, or at least he thought they were. He never paid enough attention to really be able to tell.
He imagined her sitting at the kitchen table, with a mug of tea in her hands and her phone clutched in her grip as she dialled his number over and over. He imagined her leaving the voice messages that were still unheard on his phone, and her plans getting pushed back more and more. He imagined her distress, and then he imagined Jackson watching her, seeing what Eli was putting her through.
That image sent a shudder of fear through his body that overwhelmed the guilt plaguing his mind.
“Oi.” A foot nudged him. “You’re in the way.”
Eli turned around to see Evan holding a tub of empty bottles. “Sorry.” He moved out the way, and Evan trudged down the steps without giving him another glance. Eli studied his back as he walked away. He didn’t go to the same school as Cameron, and Sinclair didn’t know about him either.
Weird.
Eli was ignored again when Evan came back with a now empty tub. He wanted to call out, but stopped himself. He was just curious, and Evan had clearly not wanted to talk about Cameron earlier.
His phone buzzed. A familiar picture was stuck on his Facebook homepage. Eli closed it immediately.
“You want one?” A girl sat down next to Eli. The pink stain on the front of her dress matched Eli’s back. She had a pack of cigarettes held out to him.
“No thanks.” Eli declined.
She shrugged and stuck the pack into her pocket. “I haven’t seen you around before.”
“I’m new to the area.”
She didn’t talk after that. Eli opened his mouth to say something, but noticed her eyes were half shut, and there was an unfocused look in her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m absolutely perfect.” She flicked away the cigarette she’d only taken two drags from. She turned to him suddenly, and looped her arm around the back of his neck and leaned in.
Eli started. He caught her shoulder to stop her advance. “Uh hey, I don’t really want to…”
“What do you mean?” She tightened the grip around his neck, and Eli cringed as his face was pulled closer to hers. “Our chemistry earlier was off the charts, I mean you did throw yourself at me.” She giggled.
Eli caught her arm and tried to pry it away from his neck. The crazy thing? It didn’t budge. “I fell, I could have landed on anybody.”
“But…” She pushed forwards, “You landed on me.”
“Megan.” Kal’s voice interrupted them, and her amber eyes immediately filled with annoyance.
“What?”
“He’s gay, love.”
Megan’s eyes rounded, and she looked between Kal and Eli. “Seriously?”
“Yup.” Eli pulled away from her loosened grip. “I’m only into guys.”
“Huh.” Megan looked disappointed, “But you’re cute.”
“Thanks?”
“Your brother‘s here for you.”
Eli startled. “What?”
Kal raised an eyebrow at him, and at the same time Megan let out a loud groan. “That bastard.”
Ah. Eli looked away fighting down the blush on his cheeks. There was no way it would have been Noah. Megan stood up abruptly and stormed past Kal into the house. Eli looked back to his phone, seeing if he had any text from Sinclair. As he opened it, a thought jolted him.
“Where’s Sinclair?” He turned back around to Kal. If he was out here than she was alone inside, and that wasn’t the best place to be alone.
“Bathroom.” Kal answered shortly.
Eli only had to debate it in his head for half a second. He stood up. “Which one?”
Before Kal could answer, Sinclair appeared in the doorway with her phone clutched in her grip.
“Eli,” She waved him over, “We gotta go”
Eli glanced at the time on his phone. He wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be some cue on her part or not. He’d better play it safe. “Why?”
“Your mom‘s looking for you.”
It was a cue. He needed more to go on if she wanted him to react how she wanted. Did she want him to comply? Object? Make a fuss? Be mean to her? Again, he went with the safe option. “Oh yeah?”
“We need to go.” Sinclair fixed him with a stare.
She was being serious.
“Alright.” Eli came over to her, passing by Kal without looking in his direction. “I’m freezing my ass off, anyway.”
“Thanks for everything Kal.” Sinclair waked backwards as she spoke to him.
“It’s no bother, love.”
Sinclair’s cheeks were crimson as she turned around. Eli tried to keep his face neutral, but couldn’t help a chuckle once they left the house. “Aren’t you cute.”
“Oh shut it.” Sinclair wacked his arm.
“Why cut it short?”
“Some bimbo’s showed up.” Sinclair huffed, “I didn’t want to get mixed up with them.”
As soon as they were inside the car, the clock was hitting half-eleven, Eli peeled off his shirt. He sighed, looking at the ruined material. It was one of the ones Jenny had gotten him.
“It’ll come out.”
Eli hoped it would. “Did you get his number?”
“No.” Sinclair pulled away from the house, “I told you, this one is a slow burn. How about you?”
“What about me?”
“Meet any cute guys?”
“In the five minutes we were apart?” Eli asked with a snicker, “No, I didn’t.”
“Still holding out for Cameron, huh?”
“Cameron and I aren’t a thing.” Eli answered immediately.
“Really? All the alone time yesterday
“We were doing maths.”
“Cameron is one of the laziest people I know, and he spent hours working on your homework with you and then walked you home.”
Eli shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The way she said it made it sound like there was something there. “He was just being nice.”
“He’s not nice.”
Eli stayed quiet. She was right. From what he’d seen of Cameron he wasn’t the nicest guy, and rather on the impatient side. “He probably feels bad about the picture.”
“Or, and this is a wild idea,” Sinclair lifted her shoulders, and made a face as though trying to lighten the weight of her next few words, “Maybe he likes you.”
Comments (3)
See all